Monday, July 04, 2005
"Iraq is ready to accept U.S. help in investigating the killing and kidnapping of government officials, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday after a surprise visit amid tight security.
The informal agreement covering the criminal investigations came after Gonzales met with Iraq's prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, as well as police and judicial officials during a six-hour visit (emphasis added) to the Iraqi capital.
... Gonzales' visit took place under extraordinary security precautions, including a news blackout until Gonzales was safely inside the heavily fortified green zone where Iraqi and U.S. officials work. Yet the visit almost was scrapped because bad weather temporarily grounded helicopters that were to take Gonzales and his entourage from the airport to the city. Driving the eight miles from the airport — a stretch that risks bombings and other attacks — was considered too dangerous. (emphasis added)
.... "There are still some high-level crimes, murders and kidnappings that are not being prosecuted. One reason is that the evidence is not available," Gonzales said in an interview on his return trip to Washington. ... "If that follow-up work is not done, you can't promote the rule of law in that environment," he said. "
Gonzales: FBI among agencies to help Iraqi probes July 3, 2005
While, in the meantime:
- Do feel free to promote nepotism and official robbery:
"The 'transitional Iraqi government' has issued a decree granting each member of the 270+ member of the four months-old elected 'National Assembly' $50,000 to buy a car plus $5,000 monthly salary, plus $10,000 travel expenses when they travel abroad. Furthermore, these salaries are to be extended in perpetuity as 'retirement' pensions when the Assembly is finally dissolved in December 2005 after the ratification of the 'Iraqi Constitution'. Furthermore, if any memeber of the 'Assembly' is holding any other government position, they are still entitled to these 'benefits' in addition to their other salary."
Official Robbery (in Arabic) July 3, 2005
That is about $14,000,000 just for the Assembly members' cars, notwithstanding that Iraqi laws allow retirement from civil service only after 15-25 years, and not 8 months; and bearing in mind that the average civil servant salary is about $300 a month and the unemployment rate is about 60% in Iraq.
- And do feel free to promote selective 'due process of law' to the shoeshiners:
A recent blog posting by Baghdad Dweller was entitled "The invader’s shoeshiner"
The article is in reference to the media campaign unleashed by Iraq's U.N. ambassador Samir Sumaidaie after the cold-blooded killing of his nephew by U.S. soldiers in his home in Haditha.
He ventured to state this about that single incident: "It is a betrayal of the American people who are making huge sacrifices to bring this about, and a betrayal of Iraq and all Iraqi patriots who have put their trust in the United States."
This prompted the U.S. military to issue a statement: "We take these allegations seriously and will thoroughly investigate this incident to determine what happened."
Iraqis recall Sumaidaie as the minister of the Interior under Allawi's 'transitional government' who, upon being skipped over for yet another ministerial post, high-tailed it from Iraq with the famous saying:"It is much better that one looks after the businesses that he left behind" (in Arabic), as he is a U.S. citizen with several businesses. Hence, he accepted the well-paid U.N. post, to represent Iraq, where his silence against the daily atrocities by U.S. soldiers in Iraq has been stupefying, yet hollers with indignation when it is a relative of his, and the occupier obliges.
Our celebrated Iraqi poet Badir Shakir Al-Sayyab (who died nearly 50 years ago) best described the likes of Sumaidaie in one of his well known poems (in Arabic) : "The Invaders Shoeshiners"
I am what you want me to be,
I am the despicable invaders' shoeshiner,
Seller of blood and conscience.
For the invaders,
I am the crow that feeds on pigeon corpses,
I am the ruin, I am the destruction
The lips of the whore are more virtuous than my heart
The wings of the fly are purer and warmer than my hands
As you wish me to be ..... I am the scoundrel.
Happy 4th of July
|
